Page 740 - Business Finance

FinMin may borrow 60% from market for H1, switch bonds up to Rs 70k cr

The Finance Ministry may borrow around 60 per cent of the Rs 7.1 lakh crore budgeted gross borrowings for fiscal 2019-20 in its first half (H1) from the market to meet part-redemption, expenditures for welfare schemes and keep the fiscal deficit in check.

IDBI Bank considering renewal of term for current MD

IDBI Bank on Sunday said it is considering current MD Rakesh Sharma, for appointment for a further period of three years as its MD and Chief Execuitve, besides broadbasing the board to induct professionals and two deputy MDs.

'Metro Man' Sreedharan appointed principal advisor to MRTCs in J&K

The Jammu and Kashmir Governor administration has approved the appointment of "Metro Man" E Sreedharan as the principal advisor to two mass rapid transit systems to be built in Jammu and Srinagar, an official said Sunday. Sreedharan, a retired IES (IRSE) officer, is popularly known as the "Metro Man" for changing the face of public transport in the country with his leadership of building the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro. Appointed by former UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon to serve on the United Nations High Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport for three years in 2015, he has a vast experience in the implementation of mass rapid transit systems within the country. The governor administration has approved setting up of two MRTCs Jammu Mass Rapid Transit Corporation and the Srinagar Mass Rapid Transit Corporation for the two capital cities. Principal Secretary to Government, Housing and Urban Development department, Dheeraj Gupta, is the chairman and Kumar Rajeev Ranjan

IDBI Bank appoints LIC as agent, forms joint group to identify synergies

The IDBI Bank on Sunday said it has started aligning its businesses with that of its new owner LIC, appointing the life insurer as a corporate agent under bancassurance besides setting up a joint task force to chart out their roadmap for the future.

India voices concerns on high crude prices to Saudi Arabia

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has conveyed India's concerns over rising crude oil prices and its effect on the domestic fuel rates in his meeting with Saudi Arabian Minister of Energy, Khalid Al-Falih, an official said.

MP man gets 3k letters as replies to income tax RTI query

An activist in Madhya Pradesh's Indore has received over 3,000 letters and 50 e-mails as replies over the past one year from the Income Tax department on a Right to Information query on the country's biggest tax defaulters. Neemuch-resident Chandrashekhar Gaud had filed an online RTI query on February 25 last year asking the Central Board of Direct Taxation a list of 50 biggest tax defaulters as well as details of those people whose direct tax had been written off in the last 10 years. "I filed an application with CBDT online on February 25, 2018 seeking consolidated details of top 50 persons who had defaulted in paying direct taxes. Besides, I sought to know about people whose direct tax had been written off in the last 10 years," Gaud said. "Instead of sending me a consolidated reply, the CBDT forwarded my application to IT offices across India. These IT offices have flooded me with more than 3,000 letters and 5- e-mails as replies in the last one year," he added.

US, China near deal, Beijing vows not to devalue yuan

China's top central banker on Sunday signalled that Beijing and Washington were getting close to reaching a currency deal as part of their continuing negotiations to settle a yearlong trade battle.

CII releases roadmap for 8% growth in coming yrs

Industry lobby CII Sunday released a 'Suggested Election Manifesto' for political parties to achieve an average growth rate of 8 per cent per annum in the next five years. The manifesto by the CII provides an economic roadmap for the upcoming government, the industry body said in a release. India faces its next general election by May as the incumbent government is nearing completion of the five-year term. It covers a range of subjects including agriculture, education, health, infrastructure, manufacturing, technology as well as environment. "After extensive discussion with industry members and experts from various fields, we have evolved key suggestions to make an India of economic strength, technological vitality and moral leadership towards India@75 in 2022. We believe that political parties will consider these suggestions and include them in their manifesto," said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General at the CII. The CII said it has shared the manifesto with all the major ...

Markets likely to continue to gain ground in coming week (IANS Insight-Market Watch)

Markets had a good showing last week and continued their gains from the previous week. The Midcap and Smallcap segment outperformed the benchmark indices on expected lines. BSE SENSEX was up 607.62 points or 1.68 per cent to close at 36,671.43 points. NIFTY gained 171.90 points or 1.58 per cent to close at 11,035.40 points. BSE Midcap gained 2.08 per cent and BSE Smallcap was up 3.91 per cent. This positive movement in the smaller stocks has brought smiles on the faces of many investors after a very long time.

Global growth concerns, macro-data to influence equity markets (Market Outlook)

The build-up to the general elections and global growth concerns, along with macro-economic data points, are expected to influence the Indian equity market during the coming week.

Indian Overseas Bank cuts MCLR by up to 10 bps

State-owned Indian Overseas Bank said it has reduced the MCLR across all tenors, except overnight and one month, with effect from Sunday. The new MCLR rates come to effect from March 10, 2019, the bank said in a regulatory filing. The one-year tenor marginal cost based lending rate (MCLR) has been brought down by 0.10 percentage point to 8.70 per cent, the bank said. The one-year MCLR is the benchmark against which most of the consumer loans are priced by a lender. Among others, two- and three-year MCLRs are reduced by 0.10 percentage point each to 8.80 per cent and 8.90 per cent, respectively. The six-month MCLR will be priced at 8.50 per cent as against 8.60 per cent earlier while for three-month tenor it has been cut to 8.45 per cent from 8.50 per cent.

RBI may bar dual functions of rating agencies

The Reserve Bank of India may disallow credit rating agencies from the dual role of being advisor-cum-rating agencies for companies.

Korean retail brand Mumuso plans to add over 300 outlets by mid-2022

South Korean lifestyle brand Mumuso is aiming at a business turnover of Rs 1,000 crore with over 300 outlets in India by mid-2022, a top company official said. The company, which had entered the Indian market in September, 2018 with its stores in Kolkata and Mumbai, plans to expand to other metro and tier II cities as it is banking on range of affordable products. Besides, the company plans to go online to tap into the rapid growing e-commerce business in the country. "Our expansion strategy is to set up all over India over 300 outlets by mid-2022 with a target of Rs 1,000 crore business," Mumuso India Managing Director Raunak Agarwal said. The new stores are expected to open in cities such as Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Goa, Jaipur, Indore and Surat. As part of its expansion, Mumuso would have a blend of both the company-owned and franchise stores. It would invest between Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore towards setting the company-owned and franchise stores, ...

Resolutions of both Binani and Essar were within rules: IBBI

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has said that it did not find any contradiction in approvals of resolution for Essar Steel and Binani Cement in the context of "value maximisation". The Ahmedabad bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NLCT) has approved the ArcelorMittal's Rs 42,000 crore resolution plan, rejecting the Ruias settlement offer of Rs 54,389 crore. Recently, in the case of Binani Cement, the Kolkata bench of NCLT approved the resolution plan of UltraTech Cement which was higher than what the Dalmia Bharat group had to offer even after the Committee of Creditors (CoC) earlier selected them as the higher bidder. The case debated a lot on value maximisation in a corporate resolution plan. "In Binani, the one which was approved was within the rules. The one which was rejected was because it was not balancing the interest of the stakeholders," IBBI chairman M S Sahoo told PTI when asked about resolutions of Essar Steel and Binani ...

As petrol prices spike before polls, Pradhan seeks Saudi help to cool rates

With oil prices on the boil just as general elections are announced, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has asked world's largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia to play an active role in keeping rates at a reasonable level. Petrol and diesel prices have risen by over Rs 2 per litre in last one month as international rates have risen on hopes of the United States and China ending a trade war that has slowed down the global economic growth and OPEC ally Russia saying it would ramp up its crude supply cuts. Pradhan raised the issue of rising oil prices with the visiting Saudi Oil Minister Khalid Al-Falih late last night and sought a role of the Kingdom in cooling rates. "Shared my concern on the rising oil prices and sought active role to be played by Saudi Arabia for keeping oil prices at reasonable level," he tweeted after the meeting. An official statement issued Sunday said: "During the meeting, Pradhan referred to Saudi Arabia's pre-eminent role as a leading producer of crude oil in the ...

India's trade figures will be major themes for the upcoming week (Market Outlook)

The build-up to the general elections and global growth concerns along with macro-economic data points are expected to influence the Indian equity market during the upcoming week.

Vista Rooms to add 150 luxury villas by 2019-end

Luxury villas network Vista Rooms is looking to add 150 properties in India by the end of this year as part of its expansion plan, a top company official said. The company currently manages over 150 properties in the country. "The target is to double the number of villas to at least 300 across India by the end of this year. We will be adding around 150 properties in 2019," Vista Rooms Co-Founder Amit Damani told PTI. The boutique villas will be at all the popular destinations pan-India, he added. "While we started with Maharashtra and Goa and have a strong presence in western India, now we are also present in many locations in north and south India. This year we are looking at more growth in the north and south India. We are also looking at select destinations in eastern parts of India," Damani said. In the east, it will be mainly in Darjeeling and Sikkim, he added. Asked about the business model the company follows, Damani said: "We manage and operate the properties." He said an ...

India, ASEAN clock fastest growth for e-commerce, digital trade sectors: FICCI-KPMG

India and 10-member ASEAN are among the fastest growing economies in the world with even faster growth rates for e-commerce and digital trade sectors, according to a new report by industry body FICCI and consulting major KPMG.By 2021, global e-commerce sales are expected to reach 4.5 trillion dollars, up from 1.3 trillion dollars in 2014."While China dominates the global e-commerce sector, India and ASEAN are among the fastest growing markets. Both regions are making investments to develop an ecosystem that can sustain and promote increasing digital trade."The e-commerce market in India is estimated to reach 165.5 billion dollars by 2025 while the ASEAN is estimated to reach a volume of 90 billion dollars, said the report titled 'India and ASEAN: Co-creating the Future.'The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) comprises Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei and Laos.Within ASEAN, Indonesia's e-commerce market is likely to ..

Parle aims Rs 100-150 cr turnover from Nurtricrunch in 2 yrs

Biscuits maker Parle Products Pvt Ltd is eyeing up to Rs 150 crore turnover from its newly launched brand 'Nutricrunch' for health conscious customers in the next 18-24 months. The company has re-entered healthy biscuits space with Nutricrunch range after it exited the category six months ago and discontinued its brand Simply Good. "We are looking at a Rs 100-150 crore turnover from Nutricrunch range in 1.5-2 years. Health-based biscuits category is growing at fast pace. We have re-entered the category with focus and are offering products targeted at specific customer requirements," Parle Products Category head Mayank Shah told PTI. Shah said the new brand is available across India but mostly in urban cities. With Nutricrunch, Shah said the company plans to offer consumers a healthy snack that is not just high in fibre but also aids multiple lifestyle issues prevalent in today's fast-paced world like weight management, sugar control, cholesterol management and nutrient deficiency. "We

RBI says no data on demonetised 500, 1,000 notes used at petrol pumps

The RBI in reply to an RTI query said it has no data on the old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes used to pay for utility bills such as fuel at petrol pumps, which are believed to have formed a good part of the demonetised currency that returned to the banking system. After the November 8, 2016 shock decision to ban the use of old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, the government had allowed the exchange of the junked notes as well as they being used for payment of utility bills for 23 services. Both 500 and 1,000 rupee notes could be used at government hospitals, railway ticketing, public transport, airline ticketing at airports, milk booths, crematoria/burial grounds, petrol pumps, metro rail tickets, purchase of medicines on doctor prescription from the government and private pharmacies, LPG gas cylinders, railway catering, electricity and water bills, ASI monument entry tickets and highway toll. On November 25, 2016, the exchange of old notes was stopped and the government allowed the use of only